In the sport of skeet shooting, automatic and semiautomatic machines have been developed for throwing or launching frangible clay targets into the air for a shooter. These targets have been called "clay pigeons" and typically are in the form of circular, disc-like members having a slightly hollowed-out underside. When these frangible clay targets are launched, they are thrown and simultaneously spun; so that they sail through the air after launching.
Various types of machines have been developed in the past for launching single targets. Some of these machines place the target on a flat launching plate from which it is swept by a launching arm, which rapidly spins in a circular motion to sweep the target off the launching plate and launch it from the plate and the tip of the arm, as the arm completes a 360.degree. revolution. Other devices place the target on a horizontal portion of a launching arm which has a vertical edge resting against the edge of the target. The arm carrying the target then is rapidly spun or snapped in a circular direction to launch the target, much in the same manner as targets are launched from the launching plate described above.
As the sport of skeet shooting or trap shooting has evolved, a demand has arisen for simultaneously or nearly simultaneously launching two targets at different angles from essentially the same position. A very complex mechanism for achieving this is disclosed in the United Kingdom patent specification No. 2,189,154. The device of this specification employs two separate throwing arms, loaded from two separate magazines, for accomplishing the simultaneous throwing of two targets. The throwing arms are essentially independent of one another; so that the targets may be released at various angles, depending upon the orientation of each of the arms with respect to one another. The device of this patent, however, basically is a combination of two single-arm throwing devices in a generally unitary housing. No throwing of more than one target from a single arm is disclosed in this patent.
Two United States patents, Heffer U.S. Pat. No. 5,036,828 and Cote U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,641, disclose devices for simultaneously throwing two targets with a single throwing arm. In both of these patents, the targets are dropped onto a horizontal portion of the throwing arm, and rest against a vertical portion. The entire arm, the part on which the bottom of the targets rest, as well as the part which pushes the targets away, is rotated to launch the targets. There is no separate fixed launch plate on which the targets are placed. As a consequence, the throwing arm has a relatively large amount of inertia because of the weight of the horizontal portion on which the targets are placed, since that portion, as well as the vertical edge which contacts the edges of the targets, all must be rotated along with the targets, to launch or release the targets.
The United States patent to Patenaude U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,563 is directed to an apparatus for simultaneously, or nearly simultaneously, throwing two clay targets (or, optionally, a single target) using a single throwing arm. The device of the Patenaude patent uses a flat launching plate of the type discussed above,. which long has been used for launching or throwing single targets. In the Patenaude device, the target holding carousel is designed to release two targets in front of the launching arm, which then is moved to its cocked or launching position with a vertical edge resting against the edges of the targets, which are located side-by-side in front of the arm. Upon release, the arm rapidly rotates and launches and spins both of the targets outwardly with a single pass of the arm. After launching, the arm is re-cocked; and new targets are inserted into place for a subsequent launch.
In conjunction with the prior art patents discussed above, and in fact with any device operating in the general manner described above for launching two targets, when the arm rotates (typically, in a counterclockwise direction), the targets both spin in a clockwise direction, and rotate down or along the length of the arm from its center location at the pivot toward its unsecured end. The targets then are launched at slightly different times. The target which is located nearest the end of the arm initially leaves first; and then the target initially located nearest the pivot arm leaves shortly after the first target.
The first target to leave the throwing arm typically travels about 22.degree. off of a line which is located 180.degree. from the line of the start of the launch. The second target then travels about 22.degree. after that same line; so that there is an angle of 44.degree. between the targets. This is the norm or convention for all traps or launchers which release two targets from a single arm. The angle is simply determined by the physics of the system, which includes the diameter of the clay targets (which is standard).
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a skeet or trap launching machine in which the launching arm is adjustable to cause the angle between the released targets to be varied in a simple and effective manner.